Rock Creek

Tuesday, 06 August 2013

Every summer, since Colin was about four, give or take, I've taken some combination of kids camping in the Eastern Sierra in July or August. We've settled into the routine of returning to the East Fork campground in Rock Creek Canyon (up the road from Tom's Place on the 395). It's a stunningly beautiful north-south canyon with easily accessible hiking, climbing, and pie shops (Pie in the Sky). At the top of the canyon, there's a 10,000 foot trailhead that opens up into the wide, five mile long Little Lakes Valley. Easy hiking, a bunch of interesting lakes, and some classic peaks (like Bear Creek Spire):

It also has excellent fishing: you can ask Uncle Jay more about that, since he's the expert (though it took him about three years to land a trout with Colin, but man, it was a beaut!):

We had Jay along for a few years and he is truly the master outdoorsman. Completely elevated my style of camp cooking; though I can't yet say I even come close to his level. A sample menu: venison (hunted by Jay or his family, of course), asparagus sauteed in olive oil and well seasoned, roasted potatoes, and an amazing wine reduction sauce. And an excellent bottle of wine, of course. If you've ever wondered what happens when you cross a metro-sexual with a redneck, that's Jay! Or maybe Burt Reynolds (before he went off the deep end!) meets the Daniel Craig Bond. You get the idea, anyway.

Anyway, this was going to be the year that everyone came, including Jennifer and Claire. But alas, Colin has come down with some kind of cough and fever business for the last week. He's doing better, but we don't want to push his recovery with a long drive and mountain camping. That's disappointing.

But it's not the end of the world. He'll stay home and get some extremely rare one-on-one time with his Mom. Jennifer gets a serendipitous stay-cation that allows her to dig into the some of the projects around the house on the list. And the girls get just Daddy on a big trip.

"Always changing, never twice the same..." (Robert Irwin). One of the beautiful elements of this world. I try to remember it every day. The dirtbagdad is always evolving. Sometime the movement is a few steps back, but in the long view, it's always forward.